The Leader has been named the best large weekly newspaper in Arkansas. It has offices in Jacksonville and Cabot and covers north Pulaski County, Lonoke County and White County. The Leader is a family owned and operated newspaper that was founded in 1987.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

SPORTS>>Wildcats get rolling, Falcons fall

By Jason Gibson

Special to The Leader

Watson Chapel invaded North Pulaski on Friday night and the Wildcats’ talented trio of Kyle Coleman, Mitch Lane and Aaron Lagrone paved the way to a 59-6 victory.

The game started North Pulaski’s way when sophomore Nicholson Weaver picked off Coleman’s pass, but the Falcons were forced to punt and the ball was downed at the 8.

That’s when Lagrone went to work. He took the handoff and ran 92 yards for the first of his three scores, all of them coming in the first half. He finished the game with 170 yards on four carries with touchdown runs of 92, 62, and 18 yards.

Coleman shook off the early interception and went on to throw for 221 yards and three touchdowns of 92, 43, and 29 yards. Coleman attempted one pass in the second half, a 35-yard completion that set up a field goal.

Despite giving up 35 points by halftime, the Falcons showed signs of improvement as they forced five turnovers in the first half. However the Falcons couldn’t score off of any of them and the lack of depth began to wear on the defense in the second half.

With 4:37 left in the third quarter Marvin Davis passed to Derrick Hart for an 18-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 56-6.The score capped an eight play 80-yard drive that was by far the brightest of bright spots for the Falcons’ fans who appeared energized by the play.

But North Pulaski coach Terrod Hatcher was not content with moral victories or mop-up scores.

“We have nothing to be proud of in the second half,” Hatcher said. “We are in a building time. We just have to build on this and we will get better.”

Hatcher said quarterback Shyheim Barron, out with a broken thumb, should soon return but won’t be able to throw.

“Barron should be back next week, but not as quarterback but as a defensive back,” Hatcher said.

“The first half went according to script, well without the turnovers.” Wildcats coach Greg Shelton said.

Shelton was pleased with his team and went on to say that Friday’s victory is the kind his team needs to get it to the conference title.

“With a lesser team like this you got to be able to score,” Shelton said.

Watson Chapel gained 436 yards in the first half alone. In the second half the Wildcats used primarily backups, and they were led by William Sergeant.

Sergeant took the second-half kickoff 62 yards for a touchdown. Later in the third quarter, he took a handoff and ran 31 yards for another score.